PETER KUSY; PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN

As a 16-year-old in Poland, the Nazis forced Peter Kusy and many others to board trains for Germany to become slave laborers at work camps during World War II.

Though he survived the war, he never returned to his Polish home, and the experience molded how he viewed life afterward, said relatives of Mr. Kusy's, who died Monday in his Tinley Park home of complications from a stroke. He was 76.

From the moment he immigrated to America in 1950, Mr. Kusy vowed to appreciate everything he had, including his family and job and the opportunity to buy a home. He worked two jobs for years as a laborer and at a grocery store.

When he was laid off from his factory job after 25 years, he went to work as an electrician for Pullman Standard Manufacturing, and when that company closed down, he regrouped and took a new job at less than half the salary.

"When he was working at Pullman, he was making some good bucks, but there just wasn't anything else," said his daughter, Angie Urbano. "So he went to work (at the lower paying job) because that's the way it always was. . . ."

She said Mr. Kusy never talked much about his experiences as a slave laborer in Germany, aside from saying he nearly starved to death and frequently saw gruesome images at the concentration camps.

After the war, he became part of the Polish Guard, helping U.S. forces to liberate prisoners at the Dachau concentration camp, and working at an air force base in Germany, where he met his future wife, Wilma.

Mr. Kusy left his wife and their new daughter to come to America in 1950 to build a better life for the family and took a factory job at Miehle-Goss, a company that made parts for printing presses. He worked for that company for 25 years, before it closed down. He also worked part-time at an A&P grocery store in the produce department, took classes in English, and saved money for a home. By 1952, his family joined him in Chicago.

Mr. Kusy became a U.S. citizen in 1955. It was one of the proudest moments of his life. For years, he had license plates PK 1355, representing his initials and Dec. 13, 1955, the day he was sworn in.

"It was obviously a very meaningful day for him," his daughter said. "There was no way he was ever going to give up those license plates."

In the 1960s, Mr. Kusy bought the family's first home at 56th Street and Marshfield Avenue in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The family lived there until 1967, when they moved to Tinley Park.

In the late 1970s, after Pullman, where he was then working, closed its doors, he became maintenance supervisor at Bremen Bank in Tinley Park. Though the pay was lower, it had other rewards. During the 10 years he was there, his hard work and friendly demeanor earned him many loyal friends, former colleagues said.

For Mr. Kusy's retirement, the former president of the bank, Ron Dunbar, drew a portrait of him, a gift that Mr. Kusy treasured and will be placed on his casket, according to his daughter.

"In terms of monetary success, my dad is not one of those people who came over here and made a million dollars," his daughter said. "But in his own heart, he was a really wealthy man because he owned a home and never had to worry that he was going to be hungry again. That was the thing that was always so important to him."

Besides his wife and daughter, Mr. Kusy is survived by a son, Peter Jr.; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. A memorial mass will be said at noon Saturday in St. George Catholic Church, 6707 175th St., Tinley Park.